Sparky, a 1-year-old deaf dachshund, has been trained to understand sign language in a program that pairs rescue dogs with prison inmates, the New York Daily Newsreports. After teaching Sparky signs for "no," "sit," "lay down," "stay," "stop" and "heel," over the course of eight weeks, inmates at the South Central Correctional Center decided they wanted him to live with students who are deaf.

Sparky was adopted by the superintendant of the Missouri School for the Deaf, and now spends his days walking the hallways, learning new signs, and occasionally sleeping with students in the dorms.